Physicians, vendors, and health insurance plans are moving forward with their preparations for the ICD-10 coding set, but they aren’t moving fast enough, a survey has shown.
Unless the industry speeds up its work in early 2014, there won’t be adequate time for end-to-end testing and payments could be disrupted when the new code set – formally known as the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision – takes effect on Oct. 1, 2014, according to the survey from the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI).
"Based on the survey results, it is clear the industry continues to make slow progress, but not the amount of progress that is needed for a smooth transition," Jim Daley, chairman of the WEDI, a public-private health information technology group that advises the Health and Human Services department, wrote in a letter to the agency.
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"Based on the survey results, it is clear the industry continues to make slow progress, but not the amount of progress that is needed for a smooth transition," wrote Jim Daley, chairman of the WEDI.
The WEDI has been surveying the industry since 2009 to gauge progress toward ICD-10 implementation. The latest results come from an October 2013 survey of providers, vendors, and health plans.
Nearly a quarter of 196 physician practices, hospitals, and health systems surveyed planned to begin their own internal testing of business processes and systems changes by the end of 2013, and just under half said they would conduct internal testing in the first half of 2014. The remaining providers surveyed planned to begin internal testing later in 2014 or did not know when it would occur.
This is far behind the goals set in the WEDI/NCHICA timeline, which call for completing internal testing in July 2013 to leave time for external testing with payers throughout 2014.
Health plans and vendors also have some catching up to do, according to the survey results. Of the 59 vendors surveyed, about one-fifth said they were halfway or less than halfway complete with product development, a task that was supposed to be done by the end of 2011, according to the suggested timeline. And about one-third of the 98 health insurance plans that responded said they have already begun or expect to begin external testing by the end of 2013, leaving most health plans less than 9 months to complete external testing.
mschneider@frontlinemedcom.com
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